Yiaga Africa, an election monitoring group, has said Saturday’s Ondo governorship election was characterised by massive vote trading between the electorate and politicians.

Seventeen political parties participated in the election exercise, although the battle was mainly between Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the APC and Agboola Ajayi of the PDP.

The group said that the observation showed that politicians bought votes between N5,000 and N20,000 in the presence of armed security agencies that looked on the other side. However, it did not state any particular security agency.

This was contained in a preliminary report jointly signed and presented by Ezenwa Nwagwu, the chair of the 2024 Ondo Election Mission and Cynthia Mbamalu, the director of programmes for Yiaga Africa, respectively, issued in Akure.

“The APC party agent stationed at the Odulufe, Omoke, Odosika, Ogubgobe polling units (PUs) in the Ileooluji II ward of Ileoluji LGA was observed offering cash inducements of N20,000 to voters in exchange for their vote for the party. Unfortunately, security agents did not intervene to stop this action.

“Voters at the Ogun/Saruku Area polling unit in Ilara II ward, Ifedore LGA, revealed how they marked their ballot papers to agents of the APC party in exchange for cash gifts.

“The security personnel present did not respond to this situation. APC and PDP agents were observed bribing voters with cash incentives ranging from N5,000 to N10,000 at the Elegiri/Ediro compound polling unit in Ilara I ward, Ifedore LGA,” the report said.

Mr Nwagwu said Yiaga Africa observed widespread occurrence of vote buying across several PUs, which is becoming a permanent feature of the nation’s electoral process.

“We strongly condemn this practice, as it contributes to electoral corruption and political inequality,” it said.

He, however, commended the State Security Service (SSS) for apprehending an individual allegedly involved in vote trading at the St. Stephen PU in Ward 4, Akure.

“Yiaga Africa firmly holds the political parties and candidates accountable for the negative trends observed in our elections. Political parties cannot distance themselves from the persistent issue of vote buying that continues to mar our electoral processes,” he said.

Peoples Gazette could not immediately reach APC spokesperson in Ondo, Alex Kalejaiye, and PDP’s Kennedy Peretie, for comments on the vote-buying allegations, as their phone numbers were switched off.

Meanwhile, Ms Mbamalu said that while the lead-up to the elections was relatively peaceful, the election day process began calmly and orderly, demonstrating citizens’ interest in participating peacefully.  

She said, “Citizens arrived early at their assigned polling units to cast their votes in the gubernatorial elections. Additionally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the transport union groups successfully deployed election officials and materials across the state.

“By 7:30 a.m., election officials had arrived at 71 per cent of the polling units. By 9:30 a.m., accreditation and voting were underway in 91 per cent of the observed polling units.